The DrumPower Project with Unaccompanied Refugee Minors – Short Report

First accommodation institution, Munich
Before we start, we move with drums through the corridors and in the breakfast room of the hotel Pollinger. Some young people we wake up, others are ready to take the first hit on the drum. Then we'll come together in a large, bright room to a first common drumming, quiet – loud – quiet, then stop. This is followed by a second improvisation soft – loud – soft and then a hit all around in the circle.

The atmosphere is fun and relaxed. The young refugees bring the rhythms and songs of their homelands. For this purpose they sang and dance. It is getting quiet, when young people play on the carillon or strike a first grip on the guitar. Betting games, concentration games, free improvisation and different rhythms are assembled and it will be conducted. After this the impulsive adolescents are exhausted and more balanced. Caregivers gave the feedback, that the calmer ones´ come back more confident from the drum project.

We (two music therapists) worked six times on site in the period from April to May 2015, once a week, for 1 ½ hours with ever-changing young people and just a few that we already knew. It was not working with a continuously group, but we have achieved many refugee minors with our project, with the following objectives and priorities: Welcome are welcomed, experience nonviolent community, able to regulate their own emotions and contribute their own resources. Further they learned to speak the first German words and sentences and got new experience and learning.